Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

Ender Lilies is a tragic tale accompanied by one of my favorite soundtracks ever, with combat often being more souls-esque than some of the other entries in this genre. It has so much charm, only being rivaled by few games in general in that regard. Highly Recommend. To expand on that a little, the story is quite linear and somewhat predictable, but I've grown to appreciate such things over time and especially in cases like here where it's written and executed beautifully. The cutscenes while not anything special gave me a weird feeling at times that I wasn't sure how to explain, but I liked them for what they were. Some noteworthy things: - Speedrunners, or people who like to experiment with stuff that the game didn't intend you to will have fun with the movement in this game. - Despite being very nice overall, the game has somewhat a clunkyness to it at times which make certain passages in the game quite annoying. Though its sequel Ender Magnolia is far worse in that regard. - Aforementioned combat is not easily a 'rush in and chase the enemy down' experience that's as easy as it is in for example, Hollow Knight. You can choose to play like that anyway and it will work but if you're not good at Metroidvanias then I do not recommend doing that, you will get annoyed. - Ender Lilies is still a Metroidvania so there will be a good amount of backtracking involved. The game lessens the load on you by letting you know what rooms are fully explored and which aren't so that may be a nice thing for some who do not like backtracking a lot.

Honestly only came here since it was recommended on the Silk Song page but it was a genuinely fun game on its own. The story is emotional and compelling. The increase in difficulty was extremely well paced and actually drew me in more because it kept dangling that carrot in front of my face of beating the next boss. There's no strange BS achievements that you won't be able to get without a whole 20 page guide or extra 40 hours of play time, which I really appreciate for my completionist habits. And the music and scoring was actually so mind blowing. Especially for the final boss rooms. The soundtrack kept me so tense the entire time. 10/10 game that you can slam out in either a dedicated weekend or just casually over a week.

“I came for the cute white-haired girl. I stayed because the game quietly destroyed my feelings.” At first I thought this would just be another pretty metroidvania with sad music and edgy lore. Then suddenly I was sitting in silence after defeating a boss, staring at the screen like I just survived an emotional tax audit. The combat feels clean and surprisingly satisfying once the spirit system clicks. Some bosses humbled me so hard I started respecting basic life decisions again. Exploration is rewarding, movement keeps getting better, and every new area somehow feels both beautiful and depressing at the same time. Also the soundtrack? Illegal. It doesn’t play in the background. It haunts you. If you like games where: dying is part of character development lore is delivered through pain you accidentally get attached to spirits that are technically dead and every bench feels like finding peace in a collapsing world then yes, this game is absolutely worth it. I only planned to try it for a bit. 4 hours later I was already defending it like it raised me.”